Car-door hanger



(No Model.)

' A. B. PULLMA-N.

OAR DO OR HANGER. I No; 420,831. Patented Feb. 4, 1890.

UNITED STATES ALBERT n. PULLMAN,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAR-DOOR HANGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 420,831, dated February4, 1890.

Application filed May 26, 1888- Serial No. 275,230. (No model.)

' structure above the door serves as a track for balls to travel on, andan angle-iron extending upward from the top of the door serves as ahanger to rest and travel on the balls, and the angle-irons are providedwith stops at certain intervals to limit the movements of the balls.

A marked characteristic of that invention is the ease with which thedoor may be operated, only a very slight pressure being required to moveit in either direction. The invention, however, contemplated a uniformfacility of operation throughout the Whole distance traveled by the doorin opening or closing, while practice has demonstrated that in someapplications of the invention, notably the application to freight-cars,it is preferable to have the door move with diminished freedom uponnearing either limit of its travel. This I effect by so locating thestops that they engage the balls before the door has reached the limitof its travel, and, by.

exerting a binding effect upon the balls, prevent them from rolling,whereby a sliding effect is produced for the remainder of the distance.

The term angle-iron is used in a generic sense, implying any materialsuitable for the purpose, as set forth in the Oloes patent.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a detached view of my improveddoorhanger, showing the relative positions occupied by the parts thereofwhen the door is closed; Fig. 2, a similar view showing the relativeposit-ions occupied by the parts when, in the. operation of opening thedoor, the balls cease to roll and begin to slide; Fig.3,a similar viewshowing the relative positions of the parts when the door is fully open;Fig. 4, a similar view showing the relative positions of the parts when,in the operation of closing the door, the balls cease to roll and beginto slide; Fig. 5, abroken vertical crosssection through the car, thedoor, and the hanger, showing the mode of attachment of the angle-ironsto the door and car, as well as their preferred form; and Figs. 6 and 7,perspective views of the two angle-irons in their preferred form.

A is the wall of the car; B, the sliding door; G, the angle-irondepending from the wall of the car; 0, the angle-iron projecting upwardfrom the door, and D the balls, of which two are employed ordinarily, asindicated by the dotted lines in Figs. 3 to 6.

To give the angle-iron 0 its proper position, a wooden strip E is placedalong the upper part of the facia-board F, and the parts are firmlysecured together by nut-bolts sextending from the outside of theangle-iron to the interior of the car. The angle-iron O is socured tothe inner face of the upper part of the door bymeans of nut-bolts s, andit is advisable that the parts be so related as to bring this angle-ironas close to the facia board as possible without frictional contact. Theangle-irons O and C overlap each other in reverse order and embrace theballs between them, as in the patent of Benjamin J. Cloes, abovereferred to; but-I prefer, instead of making the overlapping portionsflat, as in the said Cloes patent, to form them so that the parts 1",which embrace the balls, shall be hollowed on their inner surfaces. Theeffect of the hollowed form is to prevent lateral movement of the ballsin the track and to maintain the angle-iron C close to the facia board,thus preventing jarring or rattling of the door when the car is inmotion, and exthe interior of the car.

The preferred length of the angle-iron C is about double the breadth ofthe door, so that the door may be fully opened, while the preferredlength of the angle-iron O is about equal to the breadth of the door. 9

The patent aforesaid of Benjamin J. Cloes to limit the movement of theballs by form'- cluding dust, cinders, rain, and the like from describesstops at intervals on the angle-irons ing sockets equal or substantiallyequal to the distance traveled by the balls in the operation of thedoor, the purpose being to cause the balls to roll freely throughout thewhole distance traveled by the door. In my improvement the angle-iron Gis provided with stops 1), which, however, are not in such position asto permit theballs to roll freely during the whole operation of thedoor, but are in such position as to overtake the balls before the dooris either fully opened or fully closed. Thus,in Fig. 2 it will be seenthat while the door has still some distance to travel the stops 1) havereached the balls I), and the obvious effect will be that they willserveto bind the balls, so that the latter will slide for the remainderof the distance, greatly increasing the friction and rendering acorrespondingly-increased force necessary in order to complete theopening of the door. In other words, the door moves with great freedomfrom the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 2, and aconsiderably greater force is required to move it from the positionshown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 3. The same is true inclosing the door, since by reason of the location of the stops 1) thedoor moves with great freedom from the position shown in Fig'. 3 to thatshown in Fig. i, at which position the stops 1) overtake the balls D,and alargely-increased force is required to move the door from theposition shown in Fig. i to the fully-closed position shown in Fig. 1.While, however, this increased resistance occurs as the door nears itslimit, either in opening or closing, there is no increasing resistancein starting the door, either from the open or closed position; but theballs will roll freely when the door is moved from either limit untilthey are overtaken by the stops. This will be readily apparent from aninspection of Figs. 2 and 3 or Figs. 1 and at. In the two last-namedfigures, for example, it will be seen that while the balls D remainbound by the stops 1) in contact with them until the door has passedfrom the position shown in Fig. & to the position shown in Fig. 1, assoon as the direction of movement of the door is reversed the balls areagain free to roll untilthey are overtaken by the opposite stops. Theexact points at which the balls will be overtaken by the stops mayeasily be determined, since, so long as the balls are left free to roll,the distance which they travel in any given time is just half thattraveled by the door in the same time. From the time when the stopsovertake the balls, however, the distance traveled by the balls in anygiven time is equal to that traveled by the door in the same time. Therefore it it is desired to have the stops 1) begin to operate as a brakeupon the balls at a distance of about one foot from either limit of themovement of the door, the intermediate angle-iron C. The remainingstops 1) are at opposite ends of the angle-iron 0'.

If desired,stops 1) may be provided on the angle-iron C. The purpose ofthese additional stops is fully explained in the patent of Benjamin J.Cloes aforesaid. If employed, one should be at the center of theangle-iron C and one at each side of the center at a distance therefromequal to the full distance traveled by the balls both in rolling andsliding. Of course, so far as the location of the stops 1) on theangle-iron C is concerned, whereby the b. lls slide instead of rolltoward the ends of their course, it is immaterial whether the part-s ofthe angle-irons which embrace the balls are hollowed, as shown in theaccompanying drawings, or straight, as shown and described in the patentto Benjamin J. Cloes. Therefore my claims are intended to include eitherconstruction of angle-irons, provided the stops 1) are located inaccordance with my invention, as above described.

One great merit of the Cloes door-hanger is that the two angle-ironsoverlapping each other in reverse order serve as a most effect ive guardfor preventing rain, sleet, snow, dust, sparks, &c., from entering theinterior of the car over the top of the door. One of the objects ottheconstruction in the accompanying drawings is to improve this attributeof the Oloes device by beveling the top of the door, as shown at E inFig. 5. \Vhen the top of the door is horizontal, it serves as alodging-place for all of the above substances, and in winter the rain,sleet, and snow thus lodged are liable to produce an accumulation of icesufficient to impede the operation of the door. By giving the top of thedoor a suitable incline downward and outward, as described, no suchlodging-place is afforded, and it becomes impossible for ice toaccumulate in such quantity as to produce any injurious effect.

It is preferable to form the beveled top E with a projecting ledge o, asshown, though the purpose will be answered also by simply beveling theupper ends of the boards which form the door.

In cases where there is no occasion for having the hanger serve as aweather and cinder guard-as, for example, in sliding doors forhousesthat portion of the angleiron 0 which is between the intermediatestops 1) may be omitted.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a hanger for sliding doors, the com bination of an angle'iron todepend from the wall of the structure above the door and serve as atrack for balls ,a second angle-iron to project upward from the top ofthe door and hang upon the balls, and stops 1) in position to engage theballs and bind them against rolling before the door has reached thelimit of its movement, substantially as described.

2. In combination with the Wall A and of the door is reached,substantially as dedoor B, the angle-iron C, secured to the Wallscribed. above the door and carrying balls D, and ALBERT B. PULLMAN. theangle-iron G, secured to the upper part 5 of the door and hanging uponthe balls D, In presence of and provided with stops p in position toover- J. W. DYRENFORTH, take the balls before the limit of movement M.J. BOWERS.

